Flexographic printing refers to a machine printing process involving the use of cylinders or rollers to impart a print design onto a print medium. The print medium can be any type of substrate capable of receiving printing ink such as paper, cardboard, plastic, metal film, and packaging material, to name a few examples. The print design can include any desired text and/or graphics, and is provided in relief onto a so-called printing plate. The printing plate is a flexible rubberlike sheet that is attached to a print cylinder of the flexographic print machine. The print plate itself can be made using a mold, or by using a chemical or laser etch process. In a typical mold-based plate forming process, a mold such as a bakelite board is formed with the desired design, and a plastic or rubber compound is then pressed into the mold under pressure and temperature to produce a flexible printing plate. In a chemical-based plate forming process, a mask or film negative embodying the desired print design is placed over a light-sensitive photopolymer plate blank. The masked plate is then exposed to ultra-violet light, such that the photopolymer hardens where light passes through the mask. The remaining unhardened photopolymer is then washed away with an appropriate solvent. In a typical laser-based plate forming process, an image of the desired print design is scanned, computer-generated, or otherwise digitized. A computer-guided laser then etches that image onto a printing plate. Given the attendant print quality and cost effectiveness, photopolymer plates are most commonly used. In any such cases, a printing plate is attached to a given print cylinder using a double-sided adhesive. Some such adhesives include an intervening foam layer, to provide varying degrees of softness. In operation, the raised portions of the resulting printing plate carry ink to the print medium. There are a number of non-trivial challenges involved in attaching a printing plate to a print cylinder.
Note that the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Moreover, the figures are drawn to depict certain features and do not necessarily reflect actual geometries involved. For instance, some of the figures may refer to or otherwise be discussed with reference to cylinders, yet the figures are drawn with relatively flat lines, so as to simplify drafting. Numerous permutations and mixes of the various techniques and features provided herein will be apparent in light of this disclosure.